JCPS Rejects Majority of Transfer Requests

This from Toni Konz at C-J:

Lack of space is primary reason

requests turned down

More than 600 parents will receive letters within the next week notifying them that their request to transfer their child to a different elementary school has been denied.

Jefferson County Public Schools sent out the first batch of letters yesterday concerning the transfer requests.

Between May 4 and June 1, the district received 1,061 transfer requests from parents who weren't happy with their child's assigned school under a new student-assignment plan. Only 408 transfers were granted, or less than 40 percent.

Pat Todd, director of student assignment, said most transfers were denied primarily because of lack of space, especially in East End schools...

District officials acknowledge that the new student-assignment plan, which elementary schools have begun using for the 2009-10 school year, is responsible for the spike in transfer requests.

After the U.S. Supreme Court threw out the district's old plan in 2007 because it relied too heavily on individual students' race, the district created a plan that considers not only race, but also income and education level.

The plan, intended to keep schools integrated, requires schools to enroll 15 percent to 50 percent of their students from neighborhoods where the average household income is below $41,000; average education levels are less than a high school diploma with some college; and the minority population is more than 48 percent.

To help achieve that, the district regrouped its 90 elementary schools into six regional clusters -- with 11 to 15 schools in each cluster...